Breath of Fire IV

I played this game only once on the PSX, but it holds a special place in my heart. The music and atmosphere are simply breathtaking. Whether it’s the party gathered around a campfire, engaging in dialogue as distant animal sounds and the crackling fire fill the background, or the beautifully imagined world filled with empires, tribes, deities, and dragons—everything is masterfully crafted. The story is rich with twists and well-developed subplots. One of them shares the same ending as the original Prey, which is particularly striking. The game begins with Princess Nina, who sets out to find her missing sister, driving the first main storyline. Later, the narrative shifts to the second major plot, where you play as Fou-Lu, the reawakened god emperor. The graphics are solid for their time: 2D sprites in a 3D environment with appealing textures. In battles, enemies stand out with smoothly animated sprites in various sizes, truly impressive! You explore a variety of environments, many beautiful in their own unique way. The turn-based combat system shines with a clever combo feature for spells. For example, combining a Tornado and Fire spell creates a spectacular Fire Tornado. True to JRPG style, you can discover powerful summons with breathtaking attacks and even transform into a dragon as Ryu (Son Goku Style). Oh, there is also a fishing mini game 😉 When the game ended back then, or at least I faced the last battle, I felt a deep sense of sadness, as I wasn’t ready to leave its captivating world. So, I never finished the game (I knew the two possible outcomes). In a way, this kept the game’s world alive for me, never truly ending.

I want to cry! I missed this series so much. Its been 20+ years. This series is nowaday almost forgotten. Hell, people were not even born when this released! But god damn it is a MUST play title. This and Breath of Fire 3 are legendary good JRPG with so much charm and good characters. I can not recommend this enough. I may be biased and put on rose tinted goggles, but trust me. From the bottom of my fanboy heart, I hope everyone plays and enjoys this game. Go an old school adventure. Take the plunge! Soak in the amazing sprite work. Fill your playlists with its soundtrack. And please, support this game and show capcom they should revive it in a modern style. It litterly feels like a dead friend just returned to me. <3

As much as I love 1, 2, and 3. It can't be argued that BoF4 literally brought with it a new generation of RPG fans. Between its battle mechanics, its beautiful art style, and writing, 4 does it all the best. If you're going to play a BoF game? It's going to be this one. Prepare to fall in love with characters you'd never expect to be a fan of. Be prepared for a story that holds a surprisingly strong and captivating arcs. It might ve a bit dusty, but get your feather duster - it's worth it. Now, GOG, I beg of you to do what I concluded was impossible: Bring Dragon Quarter into the preservation program. It's the most difficult to access and play proper. It deserves its chance in the sun, as well. (And please get the entire .hack series! Thank you! <3)

I do have a small preference for BoF3 over Bo4 (wink wink nudge nudge) but BoF4 is still one of the staples in PlayStation1 out of its visuals, and its mechanics are definitely a step up over BoF3, they built over them and made them a bit more versatile. (I just don't like Fou-Lu, and I like the classic fight against the hidden deity). Anyway! Nothing of this matters, just filling some space, love this game to pieces.